DHS's crazy decision

Published 22 March 2007

Agency plans to consolidate its offices in a $4 billion new complex at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital; will the ghosts of Ezra Pound and Charles Guiteau manage to evade security?

No jokes please. Federal Times reports

that DHS plans to spend $4.1 billion to move its more than sixty D.C. area offices into a new office to be built at [u]St. Elizabeth’s Hospital[/u] — a mental asylum famous for hosing John Hinckley, Jr., Charles Guiteau, and Ezra Pound. The reasons for the move are many and include increased efficiency and an improved esprit de corps and a “one DHS” culture among the various departments that make up DHS. The agency has high hopes for the facility, which it claims “will ensure a unity of effort and command for the secretary, as well as build a culture and a spirit which are essential to having a happy and productive work force.” Maybe so, but it will be a while either way, with DHS estimating a move in date between 2012 and 2015. And not all DHS employees will make the move: The Secret Service, US-VISIT, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, Office of the Inspector General, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the science and technology directorate will remain off campus.